3. ((Stocking stuffers for Tween girls))Did you know scrunchie's are back "in"? Yep, look around and you will see a lot on the wrists of those teen/tween girls. I actually don't hate it as they are great to avoid breakage.

4. ((more stocking stuffer for girls)) I personally use these in replacement of my regular elastic ties. They actually work in holding your hair and won't cause damage OR those annoying pony tail bumps!!! SCORE!

8. ((kids:Boys & Girls)) Santa gave this to my son when he was 2 (he's 7 now) and it still gets played with when friends come over. My 5 yr old and 2 yr old daughters also play with it frequently with their cars/shopkins/animals and they LOVE it.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

I do most of my shopping online so I thought I would share some of my tried & true gift ideas!!!

1. {{Spouse, sister, brother, mother}} Magnetic car phone mount. (works on all phones) It's a useful gift for someone that has everything!I've been using it for a few months now and I'm LOVING it!http://amzn.to/2AfwUDS

2. {{Family gift}} ALEXAAAAA! (if you don't already have one, you need one)great for music & games (my kids LOVE playing 20 questions with her).http://amzn.to/2BaATEM

4.{{Kids/tweens}} Boogie Board. (from 2 yrs all the way to Tweens!) Every kid that has played w one at my house has loved it!http://amzn.to/2iTcQQC

5. {{Sister/cousin/mother}} Vacation soon? get one of these for your loved one. It's THE best and will work under make up without being a greasy messhttp://amzn.to/2AOsjt8

6. {{ KIDS}} Keep the ipad for adults; give your kids this durable option : We have had a kindle for our son since he was around 18mo/2yr old. He is now 7 and it still works and he has dropped it countless times! It's the real deal, folks!http://amzn.to/2iVgklu

7. {{Family}} We got rid of cable 2 yrs ago and we are so happy with our Fire TV stick!!! (in addition to netflix subscription of course)http://amzn.to/2z3JQyp

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

I have assembled my very best TOP
TEN tips when it comes to curling the hair.I hope these help you as much as they have helped me!

1.The first tip is how to use a flat
iron to correctly curl the hair.SO...
you would start out with a section of hair like you were getting ready to flat
iron, you then make a 180 degree turn with the iron.You would then want to grab the tail of the
hair that is still sticking out and wrap it back up over the hair to make a
complete 360 degree rotation, and then pull down the hair shaft with the flat
iron. Viola you’ve got a beautful loose curl.

2.Hair curls best on any length with a one inch
curling iron.Anything bigger will give
you more body then curl, and anything smaller will give you a tight spiral
curl. You don’t want to look like Shirley Temple.

3.To
achieve the optimal loose curl on long hair use a curling iron, and on short
hair use a flat iron.It’s not absolutely
necessary, you could you the other, but these tools give the best look at that
length.

4.ALWAYS,
ALWAYS, curl the hair away from the face.This opens up the face, not encloses it.

5.Before
raking your fingers through your hair to break up the curl, make sure the hair
has completely cooled.Hair sets as it
cools.If you break up the curl before
it has time to cool off then your curls will fall out.

6.DO
set your hair will a light weight hairspray when complete, to ensure that your
style will be locked in ALL day long.Better yet, prep your hair to be curled with a prepping spray, or spray
meant to be used with heat before and light hairspray after.This is the secret to how the celebs never
have to worry about their hair not looking perfect.Also, make sure you are using a heat
protectant so you don’t damage your hair in the process.

7.Don’t
feel like you have to re-curl all of your hair on the second day.It’s the perfect time to wear a looser
curl.Emphasize what you have and then
just go back in and refresh a few pieces.Spray a little spray shine, and you are out the door.

8.Loose
curls are flattering on ANY face shape.The bounce, the added height, and the automatic lift it gives the fave
is a killer combo to looking your best.It’s a no wonder how come are styles always revert back to some type of
curl.

9.Don’t over think how each and every curl looks
when it comes to curling your hair.You
don’t want every piece curled exactly the same, the exact same way.I often have people who say they give up
curling their hair because they can’t get uniform curls.Wait until you are completely done curling
your hair before you go back and tweak the minor imperfections in the
hair.Chances are you will end up liking
it when you see the whole hairstyle together.Please, trust me and follow this tip!

10.Last, but not least if you are struggling to
curl your hair.Don’t be afraid to ask
your stylist to show you.That is what
we are here for.Sometimes we forget to
explain what we are doing when we are styling your hair because it comes like
second nature to us.I love to teach
someone new when it comes to their hair!

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Well..here goes..You want to hear something from a nutritional
box observing, workout loving, make anything out of protein to substitute flour
junkie? Let’s get to the point. This is scary to say. I’m a compulsive eater...
Sometimes uncontrollable.I want to know
every way NOT to compulsively eat because...well don’t we tend to try to be so
interested in things we want to fix about ourselves?

I feel like I’m the only one out there and we all try to hide
things and be a perfect mom, wife, woman, friend that sometimes no one sees the
real us. Then....I read this book. Actually audiobook because I drive A LOT and
I can multitask. It’s called Women, Food and God.

WARNING!! If you are not a
person of faith, I’m not going to talk about God or anyone else’s “higher
power” and neither does the book. This is about food and the power it has over
us for some reason. Yes, I believe we all need some sort of Higher Power and
mine is God and praying or meditating or whatever you call it really does help.

This book has given 7 guidelines to eating that are SO simple.
It’s becoming aware of yourself doing them and getting out of the habit that’s
hard. Perhaps it’s CHOOSING to not do them.

If you ever have a goal to read a certain amount of books this
one should be on the list for sure. She goes into how women view food and some
staggering percentages about how the majority of women from a young age are
ALWAYS “dieting” in some form or another. Whether we’re going on a vacation,
getting married, going to be in a wedding, just had a baby, getting ready to
have a baby, it’s almost short weather, it’s January 1st, or you just don’t
want to look at yourself in the mirror anymore, we are just always trying to
change the size of our thighs or other body part hoping we’ll like ourselves
more. One story from the book I thought interesting was a women who goes to get
liposuction on her thighs because she hates looking at them. After recovering
from the procedure, guess what? She still hated them. It’s not the thighs, but
the standard and our view of them.

Let’s see these guidelines....

1.Eat
when you’re hungry.

2.Eat
sitting down in a calm environment. (this does not include the car)

Then I immediately started being aware of when I eat, how I eat
and WHY I eat when I’m not hungry.

It blew my mind. So obviously eat when you’re hungry.

Think about this- You Are Only Hungry For Two Reasons

1.Your
body needs nourishment.

2.You
are feeling empty and hungry for something else such as: love, social
connection, balance and purpose.

Anyone reading this as a mom Number 2 is just funny. Calm... so 2
kids on your lap and another asking for a glass of juice is not calm or
distracting? LOL The car is a big one as well. It’s so easy to mindlessly eat
in the car and not realize you ate way too many almonds.

Distractions are big. Example- I always have the TV on or music
on my phone. It’s easy to eat when the girls are at home, because there’s
constant activity, but every Wednesday when they go to Dad’s house, its so
quiet.

I became aware that I am used to noise so when they leave and I’m
alone I like to “distract” my heart and mind with music. I ate more than when I
consciously turned it off and really felt my feelings and gave myself
permission to miss them and be bummed. I think we try to literally eat our
feelings that we never know WHY we’re going to the refrigerator 10 min after we
had a full meal. Our stomachs are full, but our feelings are being subdued with
the wrong thing.

Deepak Chopak M.D. says “That the body you’re looking at now, is
the product of your past experiences, and you’re looking at the past. If you
want to know what your experiences were in the past, look at your body now.”

If you want to create a new body, create new experiences NOW. Not
later.

I love thinking about this. How we view and see food now has to
change, if we want change for ourselves.

Eat what your body needs.
In Women, Food and God, the author talks about we are restrictive about certain
types of food that we deprive ourselves and then of course later binge. She
says don’t limit anything. When you realize you can eat anything, it’s not a
big deal to have a couple pieces of chocolate and be Ok with it!

Another thing Deepak Chopak M.D. says

about eating is on a scale from 1-10

1-Famished

2-3 You are hungry

4-5 You are satisfied

7-9 You are uncomfortably full

10 You are stuffed

Eat when you are hungry at a 2-3 and Stop when you’re a 4-5.
Easier said than done.

Do you ever sneak food? I’m guilty. Example- You know that cake
is sitting there so you just take a sliver at a time so if you eat tiny pieces
throughout the day it won’t equal a whole piece. LOL

What we eat in private is still worn in public. That really gets
to me as well to be fully accountable to myself.

Lastly, eat with pleasure, enjoyment and gusto. I think of
Europeans when I hear this. Food is an incredible connector of people. Food is
the center of every party, wedding and get together. So instead of feeling guilty
or a failure for eating that truffle, bacon wrapped lil smokey or few potato
chips that maybe your favorite food. Enjoy it, be thankful you can eat a little
occasionally, and move on...We have so many other things to worry about than
the size of our jeans. Nothing is sweeter than being confident with yourself
and working to fit in a smaller size, but I don’t want to put that self-esteem
issue onto my daughters to think they have to worry about every morsel they eat
for the rest of their lives. Let’s start a new revolution of women who LOVE
themselves and accepting of every body.

As for me, being aware has changed everything! I feel whole to
give permission to feel my feelings and enjoy my meals:)

Thursday, April 24, 2014

What may be popular in style may not be the most popular if you
are getting your child’s pictures taken or family pictures. As a photographer,
I want your child(ren) to look the best in the photos that you are going to be
hanging on the wall. It is hard to know what looks best on your child so here
are a few suggestion:

●What color of eyes does your child(ren) have? Eyes can
play a huge role in what colors look best on kids! If you really want them to
stand out, you can either choose to dress the child in the same color (blue
shirt to pull out blue eyes) or choose the color opposite on the color wheel.
Same goes with hair color-- if the child has red hair, typically greens look
best and really make the red hair stand out!

●What kind of skin tone does your child(ren) have? Some
colors tend to really wash out a person so be cautious to find colors that
compliment, not clash :) If the child has fair skin and blonde hair, a pale
pink outfit might not compliment their skin as well as a darker pink/coral
color!

●Neutral and timeless colors and styles will always
photograph the best and stand the test of time.

●Patterns, colors, oh my! Keep it simple-- too much
distraction with the clothing takes away from the beautiful face of your child!

This season, neon colors are very popular! They look super
adorable on kids and neon is everywhere! Unfortunately, the camera doesn’t have
the same love relationship. Neon tends to have negative effects on skin tone
and the true color of neon is very difficult to capture through a lens. Easy to
see to the naked eye, but very difficult for a camera to ‘see’. When neon is
photographed, it also leaves a color cast on the person’s face/neck/arms.

Also, contrary to what you see a lot, another color to avoid is
wearing all white. Although it is a great color to look all uniform as a
family, white reflects every color around it. Just slighting changing a child’s
outfit from white to an off-white or cream color can make a huge difference!

Hopefully these tips will help you pick out outfits for your
next photoshoot! Next, I will be writing a few tips on how to dress your family
for a cohesive look!

Before I
get started, let tell you a little secret from the pros: You do not need every
brush that is on the market. There are 10 brushes that are essential to your
makeup kit. Believe me, the rest of the brushes are wonderful to have, but with
these 10 brushes, you will be able to recreate any look! :)

FACE BRUSHES

1. Large
Powder Brush-Great to dust
loose/compact powder/minerals all over the face and body.This brush is very full, softly rounded, and
will give you sheer coverage. Perfect for setting liquid foundation with a
light-weight powder.

2. Blush
Brush-This brush is very versatile as
you can use it to apply blush, bronzer and/or highlighter. You can purchase a
rounded or angled blush brush, depending on your preference.

3.
Foundation/concealer brush-This is
great for spreading a liquid/cream foundation over the skin to get a flawless
finish. You may also use this brush to apply a moisturizer, a primer, concealer
or even cream blush. Just be sure to clean the brush if you plan to use it for
foundation and blush, or you may consider buying two of these brushes, one for
each product.

4. Mixed
Fiber Flat Brush – This is one of my favorite brushes. I love to use this brush
to apply my liquid primer and liquid foundation for an airbrushed, flawless
application. It is also a great choice for those who love to contour and
highlight as it can be used dry to blend powders and/or creams. This is also a
wonderful choice for mineral powder lovers. Just use in place of your
buff/kabuki brush.

EYE BRUSHES

5. Small
Shading brush – This brush is great for applying eyeshadows to the eye lid or
crease because it deposits concentrated color to area it is applied.

6. All Over
Brush-This brush deposits sheer to
medium coverage and is great to use all over, and may also be used in the
crease for a softer look.

*Depending
on the desired look, you may use either brush in the crease. The small shading
brush will give you a more precise/defined crease.

7. Blending
Brush-This brush is great to use
without any makeup, to blend and soften lines of applied eyeshadows. You may
also use it to apply eyeshadow for a sheer wash of color.

9. Angled
Brow Brush-This brush is great for
powder or creams. You may also use it to soften the look of brow pencils.

10. Lash
comb/brow brush- This brush is great to sweep through the brows, blending any
shadow or pencil lines, and shaping unruly brows.

I like to
apply my mascara, comb through with the wand, let the mascara dry and then
reapply. This is the BEST way to get fanned out lashes, with volume and no
clumps. :)

Invest your
money is good quality brushes, quality over quantity. In this case, less can be
more!

Here are
some prestige brush brands that I recommend: Make Up Forever,Bobbi Brown, MAC, Obsessive Compulsive. You
can find these at Sephora, Department Stores, and online.

If you
aren't ready to make quite the investment just yet, but want to use some good
quality brushes, I also recommend Sonia Kashuk, Real Techniques, EcoTools, and
Sigma. Most of these you can find at Target or Drugstores.